Have you done the "RF" (really i-f) gain calibration? If not, any wackiness you
see is unsurprising.
On 9/24/2016 12:16 PM, Dick Dickinson wrote:
I have an early, but updated K3. I used to be one who thought the K3 was
often uncomfortable to listen to. In the recent past while I have reset my
AGC values AND started cutting back the RF Gain. For me this has made all
the difference in listenability. However I find something curious with the
action of the K3 S-Meter relative to the RF Gain setting.
My daytime 40 meter background noise level runs S-6 and sometimes S-7 with
the RF Gain full clockwise. That's per the K3 S-Meter which is calibrated
with the XG1 on 40 meters. When I turn the RF Gain counterclockwise (down)
the S-Meter reading of background noise drops down to about S-4/5 when the
knob is at about 1:30. This seems to be a sweet spot from a couple of
points of view. Obviously background noise coming through the speaker is
less. Signals above the noise level continue to come through fine. Turning
the RF Gain further counterclockwise causes the S-Meter reading to rise as
expected. The sweet spot seems to may vary a little by band / background
noise level.
This action of the S-Meter relative to the RF Gain is different from what I
have experienced with previous radios. I can understand the S-Meter not
'rising' while the RF Gain is turned down...until the RF Gain action begins
to exceed the full CW reading, but I don't understand it lowering the
S-Meter level while moving CCW...to a point and then rising. In my
experience with analog radios don't recall encountering a dip in S-Meter
reading when the RF Gain is turned down.
Perhaps this is common in the K3, but it is new to me. I find it easy to
tune to a dead spot on the band and find the null in the S-Meter level. I
do really enjoy listening now in this sweet spot area and it seems I'm
listening to 12dB or so less noise.
Is this common for the K3 and is it somehow different from other / analog
rigs?
Dick - KA5KKT
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